ROCKING OUR PRIORS

Why is Indian female labour force participation ultra low? To investigate, Suhani Jalota and Lisa Ho ran a Randomised Control Trial in Mumbai. They find that most women reject high-paying office jobs. This is not due to housework or childcare. Husbands said no. The paper: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/z3v4gxqpkvc4p9ntjy0ie/h?preview=WfH_JMP+(47).pdf&rlkey=ca71mbrtewdo92exnmop1q0b8&dl=0 My Substack: https://draliceevans.substack.com/p/why-did-poor-indian-women-reject?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

Muslim societies are more likely to be authoritarian and marred in civil war. The big question is why? Faisal Ahmed presents a new theory: “Conquest and Rents”. He suggests that where Islam spread via military conquest, political authority was consolidated under a dictator. Political authority was then consolidated under a dictator, with elite slave soldiers, who were compensated with non-hereditary land grants. Absolutist rule was then legitimised by clerics. Authoritarianism persists if propped up by rents (oil or foreign aid). Where rents declined, these societies erupted in civil war (like Somalia). Where Islam spread through trade, these societies remained more cohesive. So when rents declined, they democratised. It's one of the most fascinating books I've read in 2023. I strongly recommend it and hope you enjoy our podcast.

Stopping Sexual Harassment by Dr Alice Evans

“The Two-Parent Privilege” by Dr Alice Evans

One feasible way to massively reduce violence is to tackle alcohol abuse. It is one of the single largest predictors of gender based violence worldwide, and it is not inevitable. Religious prohibitions, government bans and higher taxes can substantially reduce consumption. Many addicts wish they were not dependent on alcohol. I’m curious to learn whether voluntary drugs like ozempic could help those who wish to give up the bottle.

MIT Professor Yasheng Huang discusses the resilience of the Chinese Communist Party, the impact of the keju imperial examinations on Chinese autocracy and culture, and lessons from South Korea on growth and democratisation. They also explore the role of civil service exams in Chinese history and the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties' innovativeness. Additionally, they discuss the long-term effects of the KJU examination and concerns about China's future and succession.

Why do a quarter of European young men say they’ll vote for the far right? It’s not just men. In France, The Netherlands and Belgium, the far right is equally popular with women. Existing scholarship has emphasised regional development traps, economic anxiety, and cultural backlash. Quantitative researchers typically regress individual- or place-based characteristics. In this podcast, I want to throw a spanner in the works, by highlighting the salience of distant events.

All East Asian tigers have converged economically with rich industrialised democracies, but only some have converged culturally, in terms of gender equality. Why is this?

Men comprise 90% of heads of state, 90% of Fortune 500 CEOs, and 90% of applications for patents. Prestigious positions are dominated by men. Why is this? Motherhood, discrimination, social networks and patriarchal institutions all play a role. But there may also be gender differences in personality. Men are typically more confident and competitive. Is equality then doomed? Should women be urged to lean in? And how much do gender differences in personalities really matter?

Poverty entrenches cousin marriage and patriarchal controls. What happens when crop yields improve and families become wealthier? Mobabark, Kuhn & Peters's paper is here: https://spinup-000d1a-wp-offload-media.s3.amazonaws.com/faculty/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/2019/06/marriage-market2.pdf